Is Pet Insurance Worth The Cost 10 Tips To Help You Decide.

In 2007 dog and cat owners spent about 23 billion in veterinary care. Pet insurance can help take the price tag down and ease the pain.

Pet insurance is designed to make it affordable for any pet owner to provide their dog or cat with the best possible health and accident care. There are several different pet insurances to choose from. Some just cover accidents, some cover illness, and some cover both. Veterinarian costs have skyrocketed (just like everything else) and pet insurance can give you and Fido a little peace of mind.

10 things you should know before purchasing pet insurance.

1. Pet health policies are similar to human insurance policies. They have Annual premiums, deductibles, and various coverage based upon what the owner chooses. Most plans also have co-pays and caps that limit how much will be paid out annually.

2. Some packages are comprehensive, including annual checkups and vaccinations, spaying/neutering, death benefits and even reimbursement for offering a reward for lost pets. Other plans cover only accidents and illness.

3. If your pet has a pre-existing medical condition, make sure this is not excluded from your policy. It doesn't make sense to buy a policy that won't pay when you need it.

4. Check to see if your insurer excludes or charges a higher premium for your breed.

5. Review any age limits for coverage. Some insurers start coverage right away, some require the pet to be 8 weeks old. Some don't cover pets over 8 years old, some have no age limit.

6. If you have more than one pet, ask your insurer if they offer a multiple-pet discount.

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7. Make sure you understand what you're buying. Some policies cover only accidents, most cover accidents & illness, and a few offer comprehensive coverage, including preventive care (checkups, vaccinations, neutering, etc.) along with accident and illness coverage.

8. Check the deductibles, caps on coverage and co-pays. For example, some pet insurers will pay 80% of the costs for treating a pet's illness, others may pay 100%. Make sure you select an insurer that provides the coverage you need.

9. Approval of pet insurance is almost instant. But on some policies there is a 30 day waiting period. This is usually on the older dogs or cats.

10. With some policies your dog is required to get annual health checkups and vaccines. This keeps your pooch up to par and is usually covered by preventative care under your policy.

Is Pet Insurance Worth It Knowing If You Should Buy Pet Insurance for Your Cat

If you're wondering if you should get pet insurance for your cat, you're not alone. A few years ago insurance for your pet would have been on most peoples list of things that are not needed. These days it has become a different story.

Still the main decision lies in deciding whether to put your hard earned money into premiums or put the money into another financial vehicle that will work better for you.

Owning a Cat still has its risks. Little bandit may grow into a happy cat and live a long life of doing whatever cats love to do with few to no worries about their health. On the other hand, there is the possibility of an unfortunate accident happening to poor Bandit. As well Bandit could contract any number of diseases, picked up from who knows where, or suffer from ill health due to a less than healthy diet.

You just don't know what will happen. So really the question is am I financially prepared to handle anything that may happen or will insuring my cat be a better alternative than going into debt? Plus, do I care enough about my cat to ensure he or she is protected from anything that may happen.

With the high cost of newly available treatments for pets, caring for a pet on your own can be risky without pet insurance. The small costs of regular cat care can be handled by most of us, but if something life threatening happens we may not have the available funds to afford proper treatment. Without pet insurance you're faced with a difficult choice to go into debt or loose your pet or both.

The average cost for insurance over the life of your cat is anywhere between $2000. to $7000. You may never match or exceed that amount in treatment but it can be a far more manageable amount should any large vet bills come along.

Advancements in Vet care bring higher costs

It's important to be aware of the treatments available to your pet that were only recently available to just us humans. A non-treatable diagnosis meant your cat couldn't be helped, but these days what was untreatable is now treatable but at a price tag of anywhere between $1000 to $5000 or higher.

With the newer tools and techniques vet use today an examination of your pet can reveal conditions that would have gone unnoticed and untreated before. Again these more sophisticated exams are more costly.

As a result of these higher prices for vet treatments and procedures pet health care costs have also risen.

Of the approximate 50 billion we spend on our pets, 30% goes to Veterinary care. That's around 15 billion. With 85 million cats only 1% to 2% percent of Cat owners have pet insurance policies.

Will Pet Insurance protect you from everything?

Most pet health care policies come with a deductible as well as a yearly limit to what will be paid out for your claims. Plus there are other features such as co-pays that mean more money out of your pocket.

Also most cat insurance companies exclude hereditary conditions and pre-existing problems. Policies for older pets are significantly higher and some pet insurance companies will not cover any pets older than nine years.

Some of the more common conditions for cats, such as foreign body ingestion, rectal cancer and mast cell tumors range in cost of $495. up to $1650.

Owning a pet is not cheap. They are expensive, no doubt. Insurance for your pet can protect you from any frighteningly huge, unforeseen costs and hopefully you can handle the rest.

Is Pet Insurance Really Worth It

This has to be, without a doubt, THE most frequently asked question with regard to pet insurance. And for good reason. I checked into it probably 15 years ago and it really didn't cover very much. What's more, the cost was more than I thought it should be. But recently, I decided to have another look. I mean, after 15 years something had to change, right? I wasn't disappointed.

What Do You Expect Pet Insurance to Do?

Pet insurance functions a lot like people insurance. You'll see the same types of terms including "pre-existing condition." So before you get too many ideas of what pet insurance will and won't do, think of your own policy and the types of things it pays.

Pet insurance won't pay all your vet bills. It isn't designed to do that. What it will do is cover a portion of the expenses you would probably incur under normal circumstances while also giving you a safety net in case of emergency... just like people insurance does.

For instance, after looking more into pet insurance, I decided to get a policy for my cat Chase. He's seven-ish and is a diabetic. The policy will not cover anything related to his diabetes because he had that prior to being insured. But anything that happens from this point forward will be covered.

What Will Pet Insurance Cover?

Depending on the type of policy, coverage could be included for:

Spay/neuter

Annual checkups

Vaccines

Flea medication

Heart worm medication

Dental cleanings

... in addition to accidents and illnesses that your pet may have.

Do You Know What Your Pet is Costing You?

Make a quick list of what you're paying for pet health now. Just off the top of your head, how much are you paying every year for:

Flea Medications $___________ / year

Heart Worm Preventative $__________/year

Annual Checkup $__________/year

Vaccines $_________/year

Dental Cleaning $_________/year

Now, when was the last time your pet went to the vet for something other than an annual visit? How much did that cost you?

$ __________ Last non-routine visit

Don't have time to work it up? Here are some common costs I got from my vet.

Annual Checkup with Vaccines - $200

Flea Control - $150

Heart Worm Medication - $100

Dental Cleaning - $200

That's $650 right there with no extra visits to the vet for ear infections, urinary tract infections, burns, broken bones, upper respiratory infections, etc. Even if you don't opt for dental cleanings, you've spent $450 without blinking an eye.

If you have a policy with a $250 deductible that costs you $40 a month, here's how the money breaks down.

Policy = $40 x 12 = $480

All the common expenses above totaled $650. You subtract $250 that you'd have to pay out of pocket to cover the deductible and that leaves $400. Of that, 80% is covered (depending on the policy you have). So you get a check back for $320. That's like paying $13 per month instead of $40.

Plus, anything else that happens from this point that is covered by your policy is paid at 80% until you meet any annual maximums that might be set. (Usually $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, etc.)

$480 (policy premiums) - $320 (covered by insurance) = $160

You've saved on expenses you would have normally paid for out of pocket and you've got protection in case any emergencies arise.

Are you going to "make" money by having pet insurance? Certainly not. Will you break even? Most years, it is doubtful unless something big happens. But with certain types of policies that cover preventative care, you can surely reduce your expenses and rest assured that you've got a way to pay if life deals a brutal blow.